1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a fluorescent lamp and a liquid crystal display device having the fluorescent lamp. More particularly, the present invention relates to a flat fluorescent lamp and a liquid crystal display device having the flat fluorescent lamp.
2. Description of the Related Art
A liquid crystal display (LCD) device displays images using liquid crystal. LCD devices have many merits, which have led to use of the LCD devices in various fields. Examples of the merits of the LCD devices include thin thickness, low weight, low driving voltage and low power consumption.
LCD devices control light passing through the liquid crystal to display images, however, the LCD devices themselves do not emit light. Therefore, the LCD devices require a backlight assembly to provide the light.
A conventional backlight assembly employs a cold cathode fluorescent lamp (CCFL) as a light source. The conventional backlight assembly is characterized as either an edge illumination type backlight assembly or a direct illumination type backlight assembly according to a position of the light source.
In the edge illumination type backlight assembly, one or two light sources are disposed on one or two sides of a light guide plate. Light generated by the one or two light sources enters the light guide plate through at least one side face and exits the light guide plate through an upper face of the light guide plate.
In the direct illumination type backlight assembly, light sources are disposed under an LCD panel. A diffusion plate may be interposed between the light sources and the LCD panel, and a reflection plate is disposed under the light sources to reflect light generated by the light sources toward the LCD panel.
The conventional backlight assembly loses light due to the light guide plate or the diffusion plate, which lowers a light using efficiency of the conventional backlight assembly. A structure of the conventional backlight assembly is complex, which increases a cost of manufacturing the conventional backlight assembly. Furthermore, luminance uniformity of light generated by the conventional backlight assembly is lowered.
In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a flat fluorescent lamp has been developed. A conventional flat fluorescent lamp includes a lamp body and electrodes disposed on an outer surface of the lamp body. The lamp body has a plurality of discharge spaces spaced apart from each other. The electrodes apply discharge voltages to discharge gas disposed in the discharge spaces to generate light.
In the conventional flat fluorescent lamp, the electrodes are disposed on the outer surface of the lamp body. Therefore, a high voltage is required as the discharge voltage. Furthermore, when an area of the electrodes increases in order to lower the discharge voltage, a total size of the lamp body increases.